According to Jim Benton of the Rocky Mountain News, Jeff Finger is now healthy and available to play on Thursday:
Defenseman Jeff Finger, who has missed six games with a hand injury, is ready to return to the lineup but just whom he might replace is a big question. Finger has six goals this season, the most of any Avalanche defenseman.
"We’ve got some decisions to make," Quenneville said. "Fingie could play (Thursday) night."
This is exactly the dilemma I pondered last week at the deadline. With Finger healthy, the team has seven defensemen who really deserve to be in the starting lineup. Really, no one jumps out as a prime candidate to sit. I suppose Jordan Leopold is the best bet, but he's been no slouch on the ice lately (anyone else remember how dreadful he was at the start of the season?). I'm curious to see how this shakes out. One thing is certain, though: a few weeks ago our defensive squad was hurting without Brett Clark. Suddenly, with the acquisitions of Ruslan Salei and Adam Foote, our defensive squad may now be the best - and deepest - in years.
I have one huge issue with the above quote, though. "Fingie?" My God, that may be the worst nickname in the history of mankind. "Finger" is bad enough (says the guy with the long-ass, hyphenated name). "Fingie" is just unbelievably bad. It's perfectly acceptable to name your finger puppet "Fingie". It's absolutely, unequivocally not okay to use that nickname for a hockey player...especially one who plays with a level of toughness. I will, begrudgingly, deal with "Boods", "Duke" and "Woolie" *shudder*, but "Fingie" is just going too far.